Content summarizing apparatus and content summarizing displaying apparatus

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a content summarizing apparatus includes a selection unit, a record unit, and a storage unit. The selection unit selects at least one image from input content in accordance with at least one selection criterion and at least one parameter corresponding to the at least one selection criterion, and to produce a summary. The record unit cause the storage unit to store a summary record information item that includes the at least one selection criterion and the at least one parameter used by the selection unit. The storage unit stores the summary record information item whenever the summary of the input content is produced. The selection unit acquires past summary record information items from the storage unit, and produces the summary using the at least one selection criterion and the at least one parameter that fails to be included in the past summary record information items.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2010-215833, filed Sep. 27, 2010; theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a content summarizingapparatus and a content summarizing/displaying apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Conventional content summarizing apparatuses generate one optimalsummarized slide show, and cannot provide different summarizationresults even if the same content is processed several times.

In the conventional apparatuses, since images selected based on oneimage selection criterion are summarized, more than one summary cannotbe produced as mentioned above. Only one summary will soon make viewersbored.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram showing a content summarizingapparatus according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart useful in explaining an operationexample of the content summarizing apparatus according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram showing a content summarizingapparatus according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing a table in which dates and scenesare associated;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flowchart useful in explaining an operationexample of the content summarizing apparatus according to the secondembodiment; and

FIG. 6 is an exemplary block diagram showing a content summarizingapparatus according to a third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Content summarizing apparatuses according to embodiments will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing embodiments, like reference numbers denote like elements, andno duplicate description will be given thereof assuming that the likeelements perform like operations.

In general, according to one embodiment, a content summarizing apparatusincludes a selection unit, a record unit, and a storage unit. Theselection unit selects at least one image from input content inaccordance with at least one selection criterion and at least oneparameter corresponding to the at least one selection criterion, and toproduce a summary. The record unit cause the storage unit to store asummary record information item that includes the at least one selectioncriterion and the at least one parameter used by the selection unit. Thestorage unit stores the summary record information item whenever thesummary of the input content is produced. The selection unit acquirespast summary record information items from the storage unit, andproduces the summary using the at least one selection criterion and theat least one parameter that fails to be included in the past summaryrecord information items.

(First Embodiment)

Referring first to FIG. 1, a content summarizing apparatus 100 accordingto a first embodiment will be described.

The content summarizing apparatus 100 comprises an image selection unit101, a summary record unit 102 and a storage unit 103.

The image selection unit 101 receives content, and changes at least oneimage selection criterion used for summarizing the content, and at leastone parameter for determining the at least one selection criterion,based on past summary record data sent from the summary record unit 102.The image selection unit 101 receives, from the summary record unit 102,the selection criterion or criteria employed for producing the lastslide show or the several past slide shows, the parameter(s) for thecriterion (criteria), and the feature vector (s) needed for determiningthe criterion (criteria). After that, at least one selection criterionto be currently used, at least one parameter for determining the atleast one criterion, and at least one feature vector correspondingthereto are determined so that each of them will not be identical to atleast one of the preceding ones used in the preceding slide show or inthe past several slide shows. Based on the thus-determined at least oneselection criterion, at least one parameter and at least one featurevector, images are selected from the content. Assume here that thecontent in the embodiments is a moving image or a set of images.

The image selection unit 101 comprises, for example, a plurality ofselection engines for selecting images, and uses at least one of theengines to select images from the content. The summary record unit 102sends, to the image selection unit 101, the past summary record datastored in the storage unit 103, and causes the image selection unit 101to send to and store in the storage unit 103 at least one selectioncriterion used for a current slide show, and at least one parametercorresponding thereto, and at least one feature vector correspondingthereto.

Further, the image selection unit 101 may change the selection criterion(criteria), the parameter(s) for determining the criterion (criteria)and the corresponding feature vector(s), whenever a slide show isproduced. Yet further, for different images contained in the content,different selection criteria, different parameter corresponding theretoand different feature vectors corresponding thereto may be employed.

The storage unit 103 stores summary record data. For each of thesummaries sequentially produced for a certain content item, summaryrecord data is managed as a set of at least one feature vector extractedfrom all processed images and needed for at least one selectioncriterion used for summarization, the at least one selection criterionused, and at least one parameter for determining the at least oneselection criterion. The same processing as this can be made on aplurality of content items. The storage unit 103 sequentially stores thepast summary record data thus obtained and sent from the summary recordunit 102.

The image selection unit 101 selects a plurality of images used toproduce a slide show that is a summary of content externally supplied asa processing target, and produces a content-summarized slide show. Thenumber of images to be selected depends upon the length of the producedslide show. For instance, when producing a summary slide show of oneminute, ten images, for example, are selected. One or more selectioncriteria are selected from the group consisting of, for example, 1. acriterion based on face recognition, 2. a criterion based on the degreeof smiling, 3. a criterion based on scene recognition, 4. a criterionbased on the degree of similarity between images, 5. a criterion basedon person detection, 6. a criterion based on the degree of sharpness ofan image, etc. Further, in the initial summarization, the featurevectors necessary for all selection criteria may be extracted from allprocessed images and be sent as summary information to the summaryrecord unit 102, for subsequent summarizations. For one content item,the image selection unit 101 uses different selection engines to producedifferent slide shows. The number of images per a summary slide show isnot restricted to a particular number. Further, it is not necessary tohold a constant interval for changing an image to another image, i.e.the interval may be valuable.

<1. Face Recognition>

In a method using the selection criterion based on face recognition, theface areas of various persons are detected in images, and clustering isexecuted to classify the detected face areas into clusters correspondingto respective persons, whereby images that contain, for example, atarget person who appears most frequently are selected. Face recognitioncan be realized by, for example, the techniques disclosed in JP-A2007-004767 (KOKAI) and JP-A 2006-221479 (KOKAI). More specifically, aperson can be identified based on, for example, the similarity betweenfeature vectors which represent characteristics of faces. If the imageselection unit 101 changes a target person whenever a slide show isproduced, different slide shows can be produced.

<2. Smile Recognition>

In a method using the selection criterion based on smile recognition, aCoHOG feature vector is extracted, as in the above-mentioned facerecognition, from each face area detected in each input image. Based onthe extracted CoHOG feature vector, the likelihood of the smile of saideach detected face area is estimated using a classifier (see SupportVector Machines (SVM) (V. N. Vapnik, The Nature of Statistical LearningTheory, Springer, 1995)). The classifier prestores, by learningassociated with “2-class problem,” data indicating whether each ofbeforehand collected images is a smile face image or a non-smile faceimage. From the input images thus processed using the classifier, thoseincluding face areas of higher likelihood of smile faces are selected.If the image selection unit 101 selects images in accordance with eachestimated likelihood of smile faces whenever a slide show is produced,different slide shows can be produced. If, for example, the imageselection unit 101 selects images that contain a smiling person or nosmiling person, different slide shows can be produced. Alternatively, ifthe image selection unit 101 selects images in which the estimatedlikelihoods of smile faces falls within a preset range, and if itchanges the range of likelihood to select images, different slide showscan be produced.

<3. Scene Recognition>

In a method using the selection criterion based on scene recognition,the above-mentioned CoHOG feature vector is extracted from the entireportion of one input image or from the areas into which each input imageis divided, and the likelihood of similarity of each input image withrespect to a predefined scene category (such as the sea, mountain, sky,forest, sunset, beach, cherry blossom, flower and snow) is estimated,whereby images are selected in a decreasing order of likelihood, usingeach likelihood estimated for each category based on the entire content.The likelihood of similarity of each input image with respect to eachcategory is calculated, using a k-nearest-neighbor classifier in whichCoHOG feature vectors were extracted, as in the case of the inputimages, from each of the several tens of hundreds of images beforehandcollected for each category, and learning was found a metric forproviding maximum classification performance and generalizationperformance is optimized. The image selection unit 101 can producedifferent slide shows using different scene categories.

<4. Similarity Between Images>

In a method using the selection criterion based on similarity betweenimages, the above-mentioned CoHOG feature vector is extracted from theentire portion of one input image or from the areas into which eachinput image is divided, and clustering is executed based on thedistances between feature vectors, and respective images are selectedfrom the thus-produced clusters. If, for example, the image selectionunit 101 changes parameter k to produce a slide show when performingclustering using k-means clustering, or if the image selection unit 101randomly selects images from the clusters, different slide shows can beproduced. Alternatively, the image selection unit 101 may project eachCoHOG feature vector into low-dimensional feature vector, and selectimages using the thus-projected low-dimensional feature vector. In thiscase, the image selection unit 101 projects each CoHOG feature vector sothat, for example, the distance between images will correspond to adistance (metric) faithful to the intuition of humans.

<5. Person Detection>

In a method using the selection criterion based on person detection, theabove-mentioned CoHOG feature vector is extracted from the entireportion of one input image or from several areas into which each inputimage is divided, and a person area in each input image, the likelihoodof similarity of which with respect to a corresponding learned personarea is not less than a threshold value, is detected in each input imageusing a classifier (SVM) for discriminating a person area from anon-person area by pre-learning. If, for example, the image selectionunit 101 selects images in which a greatest number of person areas aredetected, or images with no person areas, or images in which a personarea is detected in the middle, different slide shows can be produced.

<6. Sharpness of Image>

In a method using the selection criterion based on the sharpness ofimage, input images are selected in a decreasing order of sharpness,based on the sharpness that were calculated by executing a frequencyanalysis on the entire portion of one input image, or on each face areadetected by face detection, or on each person area detected by persondetection. If the image selection unit 101 selects input imagesincluding those of different values of sharpness, different slide showscan be produced.

The above-described different selection criterion methods can becombined in an arbitrary manner under the control based on the summaryrecord information managed for each content item by the summary recordunit 102. For instance, in the initial slide show, the method based onface recognition is combined with the method based on smile degree, andimages of a most frequently appearing person with a broad smile areselected, while in the subsequent slide show, images of the person witha low degree of similarity with respect to the images used in theinitial slide show are selected. Thus, different image selectioncriteria are employed in those slide shows. Alternatively, in theinitial slide show, the method based on the person detection may beemployed, and images each including many person areas be selected, whilein the subsequent slide show, images with no person areas be selected.

Thus, the same selection criterion may be used with the parametervaried. Since the above-described six criteria (1. face recognition, 2.smile recognition, 3. scenery, 4. similarity between images, 5. persondetection, 6. image sharpness) are independent of each other, thereexist 720 (=6!) permutations. If a selection criterion different fromthat employed in a preceding occasion is employed whenever a slide showis produced, slide shows of all different features can be produced.

The summary record unit 102 manages the summary record information ofinput content. For each of the summaries sequentially produced for acertain content item, summary record data is managed as a set of atleast one feature vector extracted from all processed images and neededfor at least one selection criterion used for summarization, the atleast one selection criterion used, and at least one parameter fordetermining the at least one selection criterion. The same processing asthis can be made on a plurality of content items. The summary recordunit 102 sends, to the image selection unit 101, the summary record datarequested by the image selection unit 101, and receives therefrom thecurrent summary record information to store the same in the storage unit103.

The storage unit 103 stores and accumulates the summary recordinformation managed by the summary record unit 102. Further, the summaryrecord information is stored as databases corresponding to respectivecontent items.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a description will be given of theoperation of the content summarizing apparatus 100 according to thefirst embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flowchart useful in explaining theoperation of the content summarizing apparatus 100 of the firstembodiment.

At step S201, the summary record unit 102 confirms whether the summaryrecord information accumulated in the storage unit 103 includes that ofthe input content. If it is included, the program proceeds to step S202,whereas if it is not included, the program proceeds to step S206.

At step S206, the image selection unit 101 extracts, from all images ofthe input content, feature vectors necessary for all selection criteria,and then the program proceeds to step S204.

At step S202, the summary record unit 102 reads, from the storage unit103, summary record information corresponding to the input content, andthen the program proceeds to step S203.

At step S203, the summary record unit 102 changes the image selectioncriterion set at the image selection unit 101 to a selection criteriondifferent from the preceding one, based on the past summary recordinformation. The image selection unit 101 changes the selectioncriterion as an initial value to that set by the summary record unit102. The program then proceeds to step S204.

At step S204, the image selection unit 101 extracts, from the inputcontent, images based on the currently set image selection criterion,thereby producing a summarized slide show. After the summarizationresult is output to the outside of the apparatus, the program thenproceeds to step S205.

At step S205, the summary record unit 102 stores, in the storage unit103, the above-mentioned summary record information such as thecurrently used image selection criterion, followed by the termination ofthe process.

As described above, in the first embodiment, a summary different from apast one can be produced from the same content by changing a selectioncriterion based on a plurality of previously accumulated summary recordinformation items, when summarizing a moving image or a set of images.

(Second Embodiment)

Referring then to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a contentsummarizing apparatus 300 according to a second embodiment.

The content summarizing apparatus 300 differs from the contentsummarizing apparatus 100 in that the former further comprises atime/date acquisition unit 302. The elements of the content summarizingapparatus 300 similar to those of the content summarizing apparatus 100will not be described in detail.

An image selection unit 303 selects, from the content externally givenas a processing target, a plurality of images used for producing acontent-summarized slide show, and produces a summarized slide show. Theimage selection unit 303 changes the image selection criterion based onthe summary record information, and also changes the selection criterionand the corresponding parameter, used for summarization performed withina threshold time period, to different ones based on the time/dateinformation included in the summary record information. Selectioncriterion change indicates change of the image selection method itself,and also indicates change of only the parameter with the image selectionmethod unchanged. If the time elapsing from the time/date when thepreceding slide show was produced is longer than a threshold value, itmay be considered that there was no preceding slide show, and the imageselection unit 303 produces a slide show by an arbitrary method.

A summary record unit 301 manages the summary record information ofinput content. For each of the summaries sequentially produced for acertain content item, summary record data is managed as a set of dataindicating the time and date when the certain content item wassummarized, which is determined based on the time/date informationacquired from the time/date acquisition unit 302, at least one featurevector extracted from all processed images and needed for at least oneselection criterion used for summarization, the at least one selectioncriterion used, and at least one parameter for determining the at leastone selection criterion. The same processing as this can be made on aplurality of content items.

The time/date acquisition unit 302 acquires information indicating thecurrent time and date. The time/date acquisition unit 302 acquires thetime and date requested by the summary record unit 301, and outputs thesame thereto. This time and date is set as that of, for example,producing a slide show.

The image selection unit 303 selects images based on the time/dateinformation obtained from the time/date acquisition unit 302. If, forexample, the time obtained from the time/date acquisition unit 302indicates morning, the image selection unit 303 selects images that giveuplifted feeling. Thus, images are selected in accordance with theacquired time, date, season, etc. The image selection unit 303comprises, for example, a table in which the time and date is associatedwith the properties of images, and selects an image from the table inaccordance with the acquired time and date. More specifically, the imageselection unit 303 comprises, for example, the table shown in FIG. 4,and selects, from the table, an image including the scenerycorresponding to the acquired time and date.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, the operation of the content summarizingapparatus 300 according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG.5 is a flowchart useful in explaining the operation of the contentsummarizing apparatus 300. Since steps S201 to S204 in FIG. 5 are thesame as steps S201 to S204 in FIG. 2, no detailed description will begiven thereof.

At step S501, the summary record unit 301 acquires time/date informationfrom the time/date acquisition unit 302.

At step S502, the summary record unit 301 stores, as summary recordinformation in the storage unit 103, the summary information, such asthe image selection criterion, currently used in the image selectionunit 101, and the time/date information acquired at step S501, followedby the termination of processing.

In the above-described second embodiment, when a moving image or a setof images are summarized, images are selected in accordance with thetime and date when a user reproduces a slide show, with the result thatoptimal images for the reproduction time and date can be provided to theuser, in addition to the advantage provided by the first embodiment.

(Third Embodiment)

A third embodiment relates to a content summarizing/displaying apparatus600 that comprises first and second content summarizing units 100 and300. Referring to FIG. 6, a description will be given of the contentsummarizing/displaying apparatus 600 according to the third embodiment.The content summarizing apparatus 600 is an apparatus for displaying asummarized slide show.

The content summarizing/displaying apparatus 600 comprises a graphicaluser interface (GUI) unit 601, a storage unit 602, a display unit 603and content summarizing units 100 and 300.

The GUI unit 601 accepts a user operation from the outside. The storageunit 602 accumulates the summarized slide shows produced by the contentsummarizing units 100 and 300. The display unit 603 displays thesummarization results (summarized slide shows).

The content summarizing/displaying apparatus 600 can select a desiredsummarized slide show via the GUI unit 601 from a plurality ofsummarized slide shows previously summarized and accumulated in thestorage unit 602, and display it on the display unit 603. Further, thecontent summarizing/displaying apparatus 600 can permit the imageselection criterion (criteria) used when the content summarizing units100 and 300 summarize content to be externally designated, and can storethe produced summarized slide shows in the storage unit 602 and thendisplay them on the display unit 603.

The storage unit 602 stores the summarization results output from thecontent summarizing units 100 and 300, and supplies the display unit 603with the summarized slide show designated via the GUI unit 601.

The display unit 603 reproduces produced slide shows or changes thecontent of display in accordance with a user operation sent via the GUIunit 601.

In the above-described third embodiment, past records can be referred toand selection criteria can be designated in accordance with a user'srequest, using the content summarizing apparatus of the first or secondembodiment, and slide shows produced with the aforementioned advantagesby the content summarizing apparatus of the first or second embodimentcan be displayed.

For instance, user's tastes may well vary in accordance with physical ortemporal variations, such as variations in time or place, or variationsin conditions (i.e., whether a single user or a plurality of users seeslide shows). Widely varied slide shows, which meet the variations, canbe provided to the users by producing slide shows different from thepast ones.

The flow charts of the embodiments illustrate methods and systemsaccording to the embodiments of the invention. It will be understoodthat each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may be loadedonto a computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a machine,such that the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or blocks. These computer programinstructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that candirect a computer or other programmable apparatus to function in aparticular manner, such that the instruction stored in thecomputer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstruction means which implement the function specified in theflowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus to cause a seriesof operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer programmable apparatuswhich provides steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

As described above, the embodiments can provide content summarizingapparatuses and a content summarizing/displaying apparatus capable ofproducing summarization results different from the past ones.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A content summarizing apparatus comprising: aselection unit configured to select at least one image from inputcontent in accordance with at least one selection criterion, at leastone parameter corresponding to the at least one selection criterion anda length of a produced input content summary, and to produce thesummary; and a record unit configured to cause a storage unit to store asummary record information item that includes the at least one selectioncriterion and the at least one parameter used by the selection unit, thestorage unit storing the summary record information item whenever thesummary of the input content is produced; an acquisition unit configuredto acquire a time and date when the summary is produced; and a tablestoring the time and date in association with a scenery, wherein theselection unit acquires past summary record information items from thestorage unit, and produces the summary using the at least one selectioncriterion, a length of the produced summary, and the at least oneparameter that are different from any one of criteria and parametersincluded in the past summary record information items, the record unitincludes the time and date in the summary record information item, theselection unit selects, from the table, the scenery corresponding to thetime and date acquired by the acquisition unit.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one selection criterion andthe at least one parameter used by the selection unit include a presetnumber of selection criteria and a preset number of parameters,respectively, the preset number of selection criteria and the presetnumber of parameters respectively differing from at least one criterionand at least one parameter included in a plurality of selection criteriaand a plurality of parameters that are included in the past summaryrecord information items, and the summary is produced using the presetnumber of selection criteria and the preset number of parameters.
 3. Acontent summarizing/displaying apparatus comprising: a summary storageunit configured to store a summary produced by the content summarizingapparatus defined in claim 1; a graphical user interface configured todesignate the summary of the content summarizing apparatus stored in thesummary storage unit; and a display unit configured to display thesummary of the content summarizing apparatus designated by the graphicaluser interface.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein thegraphical user interface selects a selection criterion, from the atleast one selection criterion, used by the content summarizingapparatus.
 5. A content summarizing/displaying apparatus comprising: astorage unit configured to store a summary produced by the contentsummarizing apparatus defined in claim 2; a graphical user interfaceconfigured to designate the summary of the content summarizing apparatusstored in the storage unit; and a display unit configured to display thesummary of the content summarizing apparatus designated by the graphicaluser interface.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein thegraphical user interface selects a selection criterion, from the atleast one selection criterion, used by the content summarizingapparatus.
 7. A content summarizing method comprising: selecting atleast one image from input content in accordance with at least oneselection criterion, at least one parameter corresponding to the atleast one selection criterion, and a length of a produced summary, andto produce the summary; causing a storage unit to store a summary recordinformation item that includes the at least one selection criterion andthe at least one parameter used for selecting the at least one image,the storage unit storing a summary record information item whenever thesummary of the input content is produced; acquiring a time and date whenthe summary is produced; and storing in a table the time and date inassociation with a scenery, wherein the selecting of the at least oneimage acquires past summary record information items from the storageunit, and produces the summary using the at least one selectioncriterion, a length of the produced summary, and the at least oneparameter that are different from any one of criteria and parametersincluded in the past summary record information items, causing thestorage unit to store the time and date in the summary recordinformation item, and selecting the at least one image, from the table,the scenery corresponding to the time and date.
 8. The method accordingto claim 7, wherein the at least one selection criterion and the atleast one parameter include a preset number of selection criteria and apreset number of parameters, respectively, the preset number ofselection criteria and the preset number of parameters respectivelydiffering from at least one criterion and at least one parameterincluded in a plurality of selection criteria and a plurality ofparameters that are included in the past summary record informationitems, and the summary is produced using the preset number of selectioncriteria and the preset number of parameters.
 9. A contentsummarizing/displaying method comprising: storing in the storage unitthe summary produced by the content summarizing method defined in claim8; designating the summary stored in the storage unit; and displayingthe summary designated by a graphical user interface.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface selects aselection criterion, from the at least one selection criterion, used bythe content summarizing method.
 11. A content summarizing/displayingmethod comprising: storing in the storage unit the summary produced bythe content summarizing method defined in claim 7; designating thesummary stored in the storage unit; and displaying the summary designedby a graphical user interface.
 12. The method according to claim 11,wherein the graphical user interface selects a selection criterion, fromthe at least one selection criterion, used by the content summarizingmethod.
 13. A content summarizing apparatus comprising: a selection unitconfigured to select at least one image from input content in accordancewith one or more selection criteria, at least one parametercorresponding to the one or more selection criteria and a length of aproduced summary, and to produce the summary; a record unit configuredto cause a storage unit to store a summary record information item thatincludes the one or more selection criteria and the at least oneparameter used by the selection unit, the storage unit storing thesummary record information item whenever the summary of the inputcontent is produced; an acquisition unit configured to acquire a timeand date when the summary is produced; and a table storing the time anddate in association with a scenery, wherein the selection unit acquirespast summary record information items from the storage unit, andproduces the summary using the one or more selection criteria, thelength, and the at least one parameter that are different from any oneof criteria and parameters included in the past summary recordinformation items, the one or more selection criteria being selectedfrom a group consisting of a first criterion based on face recognition,a second criterion based on the degree of smiling, a third criterionbased on scene recognition, a fourth criterion based on the degree ofsimilarity between images, a fifth criterion based on person detection,and a sixth criterion based on the degree of sharpness of an image, therecord unit includes the time and date in the summary record informationitem, and the selection unit selects, from the table, the scenerycorresponding to the time and date acquired by the acquisition unit.